Default Image We do not have a
Photograph at present.
Image by courtesy of
openclipart.org

Lower Chedworth Congregational Church,
Pancakehill,
Chedworth, Gloucestershire.

Cemeteries

This Church had a graveyard.

Note: any church within an urban environment may have had its graveyard closed after the Burial Act of 1853. Any new church built after that is unlikely to have had a graveyard at all.

Church History

This Place of Worship was founded in 1752, but we understand it was closed in 1980.

This former Chapel merits an entry in Non-Conformist Chapels and Meeting Houses, Gloucestershire (1986), and also enjoys Grade II Listed Building status as "Chapel House" - see the British Listed Buildings website for details. It was built in 1804 to replace a meeting house of 1752 - a square building with a pyramidal slated roof. There are two round arched windows at the front, on either side of a central porch, the latter added in the mid 19th century. Two paired lancet windows at the rear flank the pulpit; and the parish War Memorial backs onto the graveyard.

Its closure was recorded in The London Gazette of 24th January 1980 (p.1194) as follows:

The Registrar General, being satisfied that UNITED REFORMED CHURCH, Chedworth in the registration district of Cheltenham in the Non-Metropolitan County of Gloucestershire is no longer used as a place of worship by the congregation on whose behalf it was on 19th August 1869 registered for marriages in accordance with the Marriage Act 1836 has cancelled the registration. Dated 17th January 1980.

The monuments inside the chapel were removed before the building was converted to domestic use, but the graveyard remains, where there are (amongst other memorials) two table tombs against the south-west wall with brass inscription tablets to (1) Rev. Stephen Philipps, 36 years pastor 'in whose time and by whose exertions principally the adjoining place of worship was erected...', d.1836, and Mary his widow d.1839; and (2) Mary, (first) wife of Rev. S Philipps, d.1829; also several late 18th century headstones with border enrichment.

Denomination

Now or formerly Congregational.

If more than one congregation has worshipped here, or its congregation has united with others, in most cases this will record its original dedication.

Maps

This Church was located at OS grid reference SP0692311113. You can see this on various mapping systems. Note all links open in a new window:

• Lower Chedworth Congregational Church, Chedworth shown on a Google Map.
• Places of Worship in Chedworth shown on a Google Map.
• Streetmap.co.uk (arrow on map shows the Place of Worship's location) (verified 2018-10-15)
• Bing (Ordnance Survey option) (verified 2018-10-13)
• Bing Maps ('Bird's Eye' View) (verified 2018-10-15)
• Ordnance Survey "getamap" (NB some of the 'Change Map' options may require a subscription) (verified 2018-10-15)
• OpenStreetMap (Maps © OpenStreetMap contributors, CC-BY-SA) (verified 2018-10-15)
• A Vision of Britain Through Time - useful for Boundary Changes (verified 2018-10-15)
• www.magic.gov.uk (Modern Maps with various overlays) (verified 2018-10-15)

Resources

I have found many websites of use whilst compiling the information for this database. Here are some which deserve mention as being of special interest for Chedworth, and perhaps to Local History and Places of Worship as a whole.

• Learn more about Buildings of special or historical interest on the British Listed Buildings (null) (verified 2018-09-19)
• Notices of Civil Registration of Places of Worship for marriages are published in the London edition of The Gazette. Hint: search for registrations from 1998 by choosing 'Church' notices, and the option 'Registration for solemnising marriage'. (verified 2018-12-11)

The above links were selected and reviewed at the time I prepared the information, but please be aware their content may vary, or disappear entirely. These factors are outside my control.